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This paper updates previous papers which surveyed the large library system marketplace in the UK. The present study based on the results of questionnaires distributed in 1991 to library automation system vendors considers market growth, vendor share analysis, new installations, small library systems, and an overview of the vendor's activity in continental Europe. Pie charts provide breakdowns by vendor for installations in various sectors of the market.

This paper updates previous papers which surveyed the large library system marketplace in the UK. The current study has been expanded to embrace the full range of suppliers and considers market growth, share analysis, new installations, and an overview of activity in continental Europe. Questionnaires were distributed to vendors in late 1992. Additional information was appended up to September 1993.

This paper updates a previous paper on the large systems marketplace in the UK, and aims to complement, as far as possible, an equivalent regular survey undertaken in the United States.

This communication updates the original article on the UK library automation marketplace, and complements similar marketplace surveys in the US.

The LAMDA project (London and Manchester Document Access) was approved by FIGIT (Follett Implementation Group on Information Technology) on 30 May 1995, as part of the JISC (Joint Information Systems Commmittee) funded eLib (Electronic Libraries) Programme comprising over 60 projects in a number of categories, embracing document delivery, electronic journals, digitisation, on‐demand publishing, training and awareness, access to networked resources, and support studies. The web page for the project is at:<http://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/lamda.html>

This paper updates previous papers which surveyed the large library automation system marketplace in the UK. The present study covers the period January 1989 – January 1990 and considers market growth, vendor share analysis, new acquisitions, small library systems, and an overview of customers in continental Europe. Results are based on responses to questionnaires distributed to the vendors in mid‐1990.

This paper undertakes a brief marketing analysis of the major library automation products and suppliers in the UK, focusing on aspects such as market growth, market share, market concentration, and competitor positions in terms of segmentation analysis. General conclusions relating to the marketplace are provided together with implications for current and potential customers.

The major change in the library automation market place over recent years has been in the escalation of competition among suppliers. The key factors in this are: the approach of maturity in the existing large system market; the fixed nature of the existing market size; the low product differentiation; and the increase in customer critical awareness — buyer power in other words. Increasingly there is evidence of the merging of the objectives of previously quite disparate organisations, namely the traditional cooperatives and the turnkey/ commercial suppliers. This is accompanied by a growing lack of product differentiation as both types of organisation compete for the same pool of customers with products demonstrating a common range of fairly comprehensive but predictable facilities.

I enclose a letter |published below. Ed.| written in reply to an article in your journal “Libraries and Education in Black South Africa”.

Reviews recent interlending and document supply literature. Considers the implications of open accesss archiving and the ongoing developments in consortia and electronic journals. A number of other issues are reviewed briefly.